Chapter 15 Bryson #2
“Hell yeah!” she says with a fist pump, turning to her fans for high fives, then quickly tearing off her tickets to begin her count.
I already know she’s won. I’ve come here a lot during my time at Cordon, and I know the way these machines work like the back of my hand.
This is my place, or at least it was when I needed it.
I couldn’t throw a football for a year, but I could toss a Skee-Ball.
Weird the skills don’t transfer to cornhole.
Regardless, coming here always helped me get out of my head.
I hand my tickets to her as she reaches seventeen in her count, and she blinks her gaze up at mine.
“I have twelve.” I shrug. “You win, fair and square. But if you buy one of those damn squirt guns and shoot me with it, I’m never bringing you here again.”
Her stern expression is all for show. I can tell, and it doesn’t last more than a second or two before her smile sneaks in.
I lean my head back toward the prize counter, which happens to be next to the best soft serve stand on earth.
“Are you a vanilla? A chocolate? Or are you a swirl? I’ll get the treats while you pick your prize. ”
“Swirl,” she proclaims, standing still while I take a few steps back.
“What?” I say through a nervous chuckle when I notice she isn’t moving. She’s studying me a little too hard. I think, perhaps, my crush is showing.
“You surprise me, is all.” She lowers her gaze as her smile pushes into her cheeks, but she can’t hide the blush that dusts her face.
“I’m full of surprises, Jaden Johnson. Chock full.” I wink when she lifts her eyes to me. “Oh, and Pop Rocks! Anything leftover, get Pop Rocks. Nobody can feel bad with Pop Rocks in their mouth.”
I leave her puzzled and proceed to buy two large swirl cones while she meanders to the prize stand.
I pay for our cones and head toward a wooden bench underneath a canopy.
I sit on one end and slide along the length just in case there are any damp spots from the rain, soaking up the dampness with my jeans.
Jaden steps up in front of me a second later, her hands behind her back and a mischievous grin playing at her lips.
“I’m defenseless with these two cones in my hands, so you better not have that squirt gun.” I’m only partly teasing. I can’t guarantee I won’t eat both of these on the run if she tries to blast me.
Jaden’s hands move from behind her, and her right one is dangling a small orange figure from a set of strings and what appears to be a plastic parachute, while the other has a pack of grape Pop Rocks.
“Every boy loves a parachute man,” she says, taking a cone from one of my hands so I can take over the figurine.
“You spent your tickets on a present for me?” I’m actually a little touched.
She shrugs, then drags her tongue up the side of her cone to catch an ice cream drip. The sight takes my breath away for a second, and I cough and look away when I realize she notices my sudden intense stare.
“I love him. Thank you. I’ll try him out from the top of the stadium next time I run the steps,” I say, twisting the orange toy in my hand and winding it in the strings and parachute before tucking it into my hoodie pocket.
She tucks the Pop Rocks into her pocket, which pushes my smile a little higher on one side.
I meant it when I said they’re the surefire cure for the sads. At least, they are for me.
“Thanks for this. For tonight.” Her voice is soft, touched a tiny bit by nerves.
I glance her way and find her clutching her cone in both hands just below her chin. She keeps her gaze on me, looking up through her lashes as she takes a small bite from the top of her swirl. I nod and take a bite of my own, welcoming the chill. I’m definitely feeling some heat.
“I think we aren’t as different as you think. We both hate disappointing people, especially ourselves. And this place was a good mental reset for me when I needed it,” I say.
Several minutes pass while we silently lick our way through our sweet treats, and what starts as a heavy quiet between us begins to feel natural to me the longer we sit together and watch the crowd build around us.
“What do you think their story is?” Jaden finally says. I follow her gaze to a mismatched couple holding hands, a six-foot-plus man nearly twice the height of his companion. It’s a humorous sight for sure, but there’s also something sweet about it.
“Sometimes your person isn’t who you expect,” I answer.
I take a crunching bite out of my cone and glance to my right when I feel Jaden’s stare. I wrangle the disintegrating bite into my mouth, catching a few of the crumbs in my palm as her gaze lingers, and I realize she might think I’m talking about us.
Maybe I am.
“I’m going to get my spot back.” She blinks a single time, almost like the flit of her lashes is punctuation to her words.
I nod.
“I know you will. Haters be damned, right?” I smirk and take another bite of my cone.
Her lips hint at the sweetest, softest smile. There’s a sincerity to it too. It’s nice to see.
“I don’t care about the haters online so much anymore,” she adds. I’m not sure that’s true, but if I let her say it out loud, maybe she’ll start to believe it.
She slurps at the side of her dripping cone, and I chuckle and shake my head.
“Just imagine if you posted me doing this,” she jokes, taking a huge bite and smacking her lips through it as if that somehow makes her less appealing. The effect is the exact opposite.
“People would love it. Love you. And why not? You’re a beautiful girl.” I swallow at my own words and stuff the last bite of my cone in my mouth.
Jaden’s gaze is steady, and she holds her cone away from her body, hovering it between her knees as a bead of milky chocolate threatens to drop to the concrete.
“Why are you being so nice to me? Why now? And not . . . three years ago,” she asks.
I lean back and take on the full weight of her question along with a deep breath, then lean forward and rest my elbows on my knees. Locking my hands in front of my body, I turn so my eyes zero in on nothing but hers.
“I was scared of you. You knew my secret, my weakness. And maybe I was ashamed a little, taking my friend’s pills,” I admit.
My gaze is steadfast. It’s quiet for what feels like several seconds, and the pull to keep my eyes on hers is just as strong as the need to look away.
My heart is pounding. “That didn’t mean I was blind. ”
I let my confession sit in the cool air for a beat before eventually standing. Jaden does the same, and I pull a napkin from my pocket to wipe away the stickiness that seeped over her knuckles and onto her wrist.
“You ready?” I say, holding out my open palm as an offer to toss her uneaten cone. She threads her fingers through mine instead, and my lips do that buzzing thing again as I walk her back to my truck.